Task Force Urges Dentists Use Gloves to Protect Against AIDS

A Los Angeles AIDS task force recommended Wednesday that patients ask their dentists to wear gloves and use heat-sterilized instruments to prevent the possible spread of the deadly disease, calling the recommendations “prudent precautions.”

No dental-related cases of AIDS have been reported in the United States, but members of the Los Angeles City-County AIDS Task Force said they were concerned that dentists and their patients could contract AIDS--acquired immune deficiency syndrome--through contact with saliva or blood during normal treatment. They also recommended protective eyewear for dental personnel as another precaution against AIDS.

The federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta recently reported the case of one Indiana dentist, who was unaware that he was a hepatitis carrier and who gave the hepatitis B virus to nine patients, two of whom died. Like the hepatitis B virus, AIDS is carried in the blood.

‘On the Front Line’

“There is no longer any doubt that dental personnel are on the front line in terms of possible exposure . . . to the agents responsible for AIDS (and) hepatitis B virus,” said Dr. Ronald LeBaron, a Hollywood dentist and a member of the task force.

Dr. Neil R. Schram, the task force chairman, said the recommendations--the first issued by the AIDS advisory group since it was formed last September--were suggested by the schools of dentistry at UCLA and USC and were sent to the county’s five dental societies for distribution to their members.

The general reaction among dentists is likely to be positive, said officials of two dental societies.

Richard Dion, president of the 800-member Western (Los Angeles) Dental Society, said: “I think I’ll start wearing a mask because you never know sometimes what’s flying back (toward the face).”

‘Protect Ourselves’

Dr. William W. Tanner, president of the Los Angeles Dental Society, said: “What we want to do is to protect ourselves and (put) our patients in a clean environment.” He said that all dental instruments normally are sterilized, but not always by a heat process.

Dr. Martin Finn, director of public health programs for Los Angeles County, said he feared that as many as 10,000 cases of AIDS may be reported in the county within the next four years because of the high-risk susceptibility of the population. Thus far, 993 cases have been reported in the county, with 510 deaths.

The county has the third-largest number of AIDS victims in the country, behind New York City and San Francisco.